Box Score SEATTLE -- Freshman Amberly Jeane collected a career-best 14 kills and hit .229 on Saturday morning, as the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team fell 3-1 (15-25, 18-25, 25-22, 16-25) to Azusa Pacific to close out the GNAC/PacWest Crossover at Brougham Pavilion on the campus of Seattle Pacific.
It is the first time in her Alaska career that Jeane has led the Nanooks in kills, as the Pearland, Texas native collected double-digit kills for the third time this season. Jeane collected 14 kills and hit a healthy .229 on the morning, as she committed only four errors in a team-high 27 chances.
"A lot of credit (in Jeane's performance) goes to our middles," said head coach Brian Scott after the match. "They were being effective and it created some holes in the defense that Amberly took advantage of. We've made it a point of emphasis to get our middles involved more to open some holes for our pin hitters, and that's exactly what happened today."
Despite the freshman's performance, the Nanooks (0-7) fell to 0-4 in the GNAC/PacWest Crossover, as they were upended by the Cougars of Azusa Pacific (3-4) in four sets. Alaska dropped its first two sets of Saturday's match, but were able to take set three. Jeane played a huge roll for the Nanooks down the stretch in the set, as she had two kills late in the set that gave her team a one-point lead at 21-20 and 22-21. The Cougars sealed the deal in the fourth set however, as they opened the set with 12-6 lead and continued to push its lead to nine, as they took the 25-16 victory to capture the match in four sets.
The Nanooks captured two set victories in the Crossover, as they now have seven set victories in 2015. It took Alaska until Oct. 2 to reach that feat a year ago. Coach Scott said that his team is making improvements and that they got a little better in each match over the weekend.
"It's been a fun event for our team and Seattle Pacific did a wonderful job of hosting it. We were able to see what steps we need to take to continue to improve and that's the biggest thing we are taking out of this weekend. We have a ton of room to improve and we made a lot of progress this weekend in getting our team better."
A slow start plagued the Nanooks in the first set, as they fell behind 11-4 to open the morning. Alaska battled back, as a 7-3 run, capped off by a Riley Podowicz kill, pulled Alaska with a point at 14-13. The Cougars answered the Nanooks spurt with a 9-0 run of their own to take a commanding, 23-13, lead before taking the set, 25-15.
Sophomore Maddie Davis sparked the Nanook offense early in set two, as she served up four straight points to give Alaska a 9-7 lead. The two teams were knotted up a 10-all before Azusa Pacific used a 10-4 run to build a 20-14 advantage. Alaska cut its deficit to four at 20-16 after an APU attack error, but the Cougars closed the set with five of the next seven points to take the 25-18 victory.
Alaska scored the first four points of set three, but the Cougars chipped away at the lead at took a 9-8 advantage after a Nanooks attack error. APU pushed its lead to five to cap off a 7-2 spurt, as the Nanooks found themselves down 15-10. Alaska battled back with a 6-0 run of its own, and took the lead at 16-15 after back-to-back aces from Miranda Grieser. Those aces would spark Alaska to score four of the next five points, as a 10-1 run gave them a 20-16 lead. Azusa tied the set at 20-all, but the Nanooks were able to withstand the Cougar rally, as they ended on a 5-2 run to win set three, 25-22.
Azusa Pacific built an early six-point advantage at 12-6 in the fourth set. APU maintained its six-point lead after the teams traded points to give the Cougars an 18-12 lead. There would be no rally for Alaska in this set, as Azusa Pacific closed out the match with a 25-16 win.
Senior outside hitter, Sam Harthun joined Jeane in the double-digit kill category, as she collected 12. Saturday's total gave Harthun a team-best 42 kills for the Crossover and pushes her career total to 1,888, just 25 kills from moving into a second-place tie with Megan Thigpen on the school's all-time kills list.
Grieser collected her first double-double of the year, as the Maple Valley, Washington native handed out 26 assists and posted a team-best 11 digs. Grieser has handed out double-digit assists in seven-straight matches and pushes her season total to a team-best 135.
"Miranda is a great defender and she could really aid our defense as the year goes on," expressed Scott. "She is getting more comfortable in our system and we should see more double-doubles out of her as the year goes on."
Junior libero Meagan Olsen also kept her double-digit dig streak alive, as her 10 digs on Saturday now gives her seven-straight matches with 10-or-more digs. For the weekend, Olsen collected a team-best 55 digs and now has 111 on the year.
Sophomore Riley Podowicz also had a strong showing in the four-match Crossover, as the middle blocker collected 28 kills and hit a team-best .311 in Seattle. She also accounted for six blocks.
The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team will be back in action next Friday, as they open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a match against GNAC debutant, Concordia (Ore.). First serve from Portland is set for 6 p.m. AKT.
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